If your heart suddenly sped up, fret not, Reach fan. This is something that will not only sit side-by-side with Reach’s existing gameplay and will be accessible by both Reach and Anniversary players, but will allow us to make fairly significant changes to multiplayer gameplay within the confines of Matchmaking. We’ve talked about this as a way to better recreate the classic Halo: CE feel for the new classic maps, and it will let us do some things in gameplay that simply aren’t possible now. I don’t want to give too much away until we get through gameplay and bug-testing, but an example scenario would be allowing you to play, say, [REDACTED] with zero fall damage. Now that’s a limited and simplistic example, but it does speak to the way we’re approaching the changes philosophically. There are some bigger ticket “classic” Halo gameplay elements which people are clamoring for and which we intend to do our best to deliver on. More news about specific changes and the timing of the Title Update will be forthcoming. But I can say that, having tried a few of the more significant tweaks, certain “classic” elements are already working with beautiful and deadly efficiency.

Lulz, pistol is too broken to put in Halo 1, but we put it in Reach...

Also, 343 has been painfully bad at announcing things. Half-baked remake, half-baked reveals I guess. Usually people go dark because they don't want to be spoiled. I'm getting close to going dark because this whole process has gotten annoying. Would it have been hard for the planned title update functionality to feature in the trailer? It would have cleared up the 3 weeks worth of "Wait, what? It's Halo 1 --- but without Halo 1 multiplayer?" that has been happening all over the internet. They either realize the whole thing is fucking disappointing, or they're genuinely excited about it and just Schruting the shit out of it with these reveals. Either way, it's not working.

Lulz, pistol is too broken to put in Halo 1, but we put it in Reach...

Also, 343 has been painfully bad at announcing things. Half-baked remake, half-baked reveals I guess. Usually people go dark because they don't want to be spoiled. I'm getting close to going dark because this whole process has gotten annoying. Would it have been hard for the planned title update functionality to feature in the trailer? It would have cleared up the 3 weeks worth of "Wait, what? It's Halo 1 --- but without Halo 1 multiplayer?" that has been happening all over the internet. They either realize the whole thing is fucking disappointing, or they're genuinely excited about it and just Schruting the shit out of it with these reveals. Either way, it's not working.

I really, really hope they fix the bouncey vehicle physics, get rid of bloom, balance some of the armor abilities, fix the melee system and let it bleed through to health, and change the DMR to a 4 shot kill.
Also, the Scorpion controls are trash and should be changed, the Banshee needs to be nerfed for sure.

I really, really hope they fix the bouncey vehicle physics, get rid of bloom, balance some of the armor abilities, fix the melee system and let it bleed through to health, and change the DMR to a 4 shot kill.

Also, the Scorpion controls are trash and should be changed, the Banshee needs to be nerfed for sure.

Do we think they're going to be making these types of changes to the main game?

Forget what I said about going dark, NeoGAF's Reach thread is delicious right now:

All of the people who said that Multiplayer in a Halo 1 remake was an unrealistic pipe dream have gone absolutely bananas with the announcement of a fucking title update for Reach. A title update. Like when they reined in the spread on Halo 2's BR and tweaked melee and grenade damage. Yes, dream big HaloGAF, you're sure to receive a "Keys To The City"-esque update to custom game settings, complete with the removal of bloom, overhauls to vehicle physics, and, to top it all off, a Headlong/Turf/Terminal mash-up Forge World space.

Forget what I said about going dark, NeoGAF's Reach thread is delicious right now:

All of the people who said that Multiplayer in a Halo 1 remake was an unrealistic pipe dream have gone absolutely bananas with the announcement of a fucking title update for Reach. A title update. Like when they reined in the spread on Halo 2's BR and tweaked melee and grenade damage. Yes, dream big HaloGAF, you're sure to receive a "Keys To The City"-esque update to custom game settings, complete with the removal of bloom, overhauls to vehicle physics, and, to top it all off, a Headlong/Turf/Terminal mash-up Forge World space.

I don't think the reaction is as bad as your making it out to be. There's always going to be stupid expectations though.

Updates to Custom Settings - entirely possible. Bungie have added additions to settings by using their scripting engine Megalo. It's certainly possible then to think that a TU could add a few more. Whether they would make additions, it's certainly up in the air, but I think it is entirely reasonable to assume that if they add things like removing fall damage, there would be options to tweak it.

Removal of bloom - bloom is the single biggest common criticism of Reach coming from the Hardcore folks that actually play it. It's the big ticket issue that would quell many of the most vocal detractors if they tackled it. I think touching bloom at all in Reach will have far reaching consequences so it isn't as simple as switching it on or off. Many of the weapons would need fine-tuning and adjusting if bloom is modified in any way so that is probably the biggest obstacle.

Vehicle Physics - the vehicle physics in the game suck. The Warthog bounces around like a hyperactive cat riddle with ADHD. If they can scale the vehicle beahviour back without too much hassle, then I think they should. Some of the vehicles need tweaks anyway such as the Banshee so it could all be done under a "fixing vehicles" umbrella.

Forgeworld 2 - I agree with you here. The whole notion is just stupid. I don't want another Forgeworld in Reach and I suspect most folks would feel the same way. Better to wait until Halo 4 to tackle Forge again.

Yes, dream big HaloGAF, you're sure to receive a "Keys To The City"-esque update to custom game settings, complete with the removal of bloom, overhauls to vehicle physics, and, to top it all off, a Headlong/Turf/Terminal mash-up Forge World space.

I think they could make changes as big as that via a Title Update, I'm actually fairly certain that they can adjust big ticket items in that way. The question is if they want to or if they will.

I agree with Dani, bloom is enemy #1 and is the single most impactful thing they could change in order to make the game fun. I don't think it would break anything in the process either in terms of damage, etc.

Yeah, I've been hearing a little about new gametypes from this scripting engine, but I'm not sure that I've played any - what are some examples of what Bungie's put out already and what you realistically expect could come with this latest update?

Ever since I heard about Calvinball in a weekly update way back when, it's all I've wanted. Pure, unadulterated chaos.

Yeah, I've been hearing a little about new gametypes from this scripting engine, but I'm not sure that I've played any - what are some examples of what Bungie's put out already and what you realistically expect could come with this latest update?

Ever since I heard about Calvinball in a weekly update way back when, it's all I've wanted. Pure, unadulterated chaos.

Most of the new gametypes have been restricted to Action Sack, such as HaloBall. They introduce new behaviors and options and modify existing gametypes in ways never originally intended. Things like SpeedPile having the flag attach to the player or vehicle or the Overshield in Classic producing flames coming from the feet of the player or HaloBall with having skulls flow from the goals like a mini fountain.

Another good example is Invasion Skirmish, allowing for a seriously modified version of Invasion Slayer to play out in smaller maps or Bro Slayer having team mates spawn on each other or in specific, Forge changeable spawn areas.

Halo Chess is another example.

Megalo, the scripting engine lets you heavily modify Reach game engine and there is a lot of potential there. However, the results are really subjective. Some people like the new modified gametypes, others don't. Real and proper changes will have to wait until Halo 4 but Megalo gives them a flexibility no other Halo has had and TU could potentially expand this flexibility further.

I'm pretty sure they could release a version of Calvinball but it'd be a mess or rules and conflicts but it is possible.

I fairly certain a TU allows them go beyond what the scripting engine allows them to do and actually make fundamental changes to the game and engine itself. In Halo 3 the TU changed melee, and another TU changed the ranking system completely. They can do fundamental and drastic changes with it.
As I said before hopefully they realize these are things that need to be changed.

I'm pretty sure they could release a version of Calvinball but it'd be a mess or rules and conflicts but it is possible.

That's the point. A Calvinball match that doesn't end with a scuffle was no Calvinball match to begin with. I want to be slaying people while they stand in hills with oddballs in their teammates' hands and flags and bombs being carried every which way. I want the scoring to be opaque and objectives/teams/etc. to be constantly changing. I want random weapon drops and changes in player attributes (gravity, speed, etc.)

That's the point. A Calvinball match that doesn't end with a scuffle was no Calvinball match to begin with. I want to be slaying people while they stand in hills with oddballs in their teammates' hands and flags and bombs being carried every which way. I want the scoring to be opaque and objectives/teams/etc. to be constantly changing. I want random weapon drops and changes in player attributes (gravity, speed, etc.)

Would be such a party.

I just meant in terms of how the engine seems to run. I imagine it would be tough to get it the way you'd want it. Then again, they made a working version of chess and pinball in Reach, the sky could be the limit.

That's the point. A Calvinball match that doesn't end with a scuffle was no Calvinball match to begin with. I want to be slaying people while they stand in hills with oddballs in their teammates' hands and flags and bombs being carried every which way. I want the scoring to be opaque and objectives/teams/etc. to be constantly changing. I want random weapon drops and changes in player attributes (gravity, speed, etc.)

Would be such a party.

Want. I would play this all the time. A game that's constantly changing and is never the same as the last time you played it. Sounds fun.